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Monday, July 4, 2011

Choux with durian cream with Craquelin (Durian cream puff )

Today, I made this choux with durian cream again after my family asking more as they have not eaten enough when i made this yesterday. They especially like the "Craquelin" that place on top of the choux, a thin layer of brown sugar crumbs. Thanks to Chef Guillaume Lejeune from Academy of Pastry Arts Malaysia for this lovely recipe which i learnt on the 1st day of "Tart" class that I attended last week.

If you are a durian lover, you will not resist this creamy and yummy durian choux!

Making choux pastry dough, when you see a film forms on the bottom of the pan, that means the dough is ready for the next step.

This is how Chef Guillaume Lejeune taught us on how to check the dough whether is ready for piping..see the recipe below for the tip. My advise do not add egg at one go, gradually add in till you get the desired texture.

Pipe into around 2" in diameter, but this is very much depend on your preference of size

Roll "Craquelin" - pronounce French as "kat-ker-leng" into thin layer, and use a thin plastic spatula to take and transfer craquelin and place on top of choux. It is hard to transfer by using hand as it easily break. This craquelin add extra texture to the choux, cripsy and nice aroma.

updated on 4th Sept 2014- I have made some amendment to this recipe, take note.

Method
1. Boil together milk, water, butter and sugar in a saucepan over medium high flame.
2. Remove from heat, using a wooden spoon, quickly stir in sifted flour until combined and mixture comes together into a ball. Return to low heat and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture leaves the sides of the saucepan and film forms on the bottom of the pan (3-4mins).
3. Transfer the dough to a clean mixing bowl and stir the dough till reach room temperature(no steam).
4. Gradually add in egg mixture and stir to incorporate (you may use wooden spatula to stir or use a mixer with paddle attachement to beat). Mix thoroughly until desired texture ( to check-scooping it up using a wooden spoon, the batter should hang down about 20sec before drop down).
5. Pour batter into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm piping tip. Pipe on a baking tray line with non-stick baking paper( must use non-stick paper otherwise puff will stick on the paper), allow 2"-3" gap in between each batter.
6. Bake at preheated oven at 190c for 20mins, then 5-10 mins (fan forced ) till golden brown and firm to touch (this is to prevent it collapsed later).
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Craquelin

50g butter
50g brown sugar
60g all purpose flour, sifted

Method
1. Beat butter and brown sugar till light and creamy.
2. Add in sifted flour, mix to combine.
3. Keep in fridge to harden.
4. Place dough in between two sheets of plastic sheet, roll into thin sheet (1-2mm).
5. Cut into small square and place on top of the choux pastry.

71 comments:

I could almost smell and taste the durian .... sigh.... I haven't eaten durian in more than a year .... sigh... Anyway your Choux with Durian Cream looks delicious and it must be finger licking good! Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Thanks for sharing the recipe of making Craquelin on the top of the Choux.Today I am so lucky to learn something new fr Chef Sonia also. haha.... Will sure put in action but not the durian cream as i dont like durian :)

My husband loves Choux cream (We call shu-cream in Japanese, and now I know how we officially write!) and he'll beg me to make if he sees this post. Looks WAAAAAAYYYY too difficult for me. But I enjoy drooling here in another continent. ;-)

Adeline, just noticed my earlier reply to you was gone missing (i was using iphone at that time)..I not sure what is your exactly problem, i suspect the temp of you oven, choux pastry requires baking at high heat for it to rise. And the dough must be strong, stretchy and glue-like, in order to rise and stay puff, maybe your batter is too soft..

Thanks Sonia.I think i know what went wrong with my choux after reading The Sweet Spot's blog on her sharing on 1st day to Academy of Pastry Arts Malaysia.I opened the oven door before the choux was browned & i set the my oven temperature at 180c.Will definitely try the recipe again.Thanks for sharing so many wonderful recipes, my cooking & baking skills has improved so much after reading your blog!FYI i've registered for the 16/7 one day class at the Academy of Pastry Arts Malaysia!

Hi, I baked choux-with durian filling, it turned out so nice and crisp, thank you for sharing and all the tips. Next day choux pastry & craquelin loss it crispiness, how to store it to preven it? if I prepare for large batch what is your advice? can the pastry & craquelin prepare in advance? I want to share on family gathering. Thank you for all your time.

Anonymous, no time limit, just keep in fridge before you start use it.

OW, as far i know, there is no way to maintain the crispiness after long hours or keep it overnight. What i did was fill the durian cream for the leftover chouxs and keep inside a box and store inside the fridge. It still taste good eventhough it has lost its crispiness. Another way is to store in a airtight container (w/o cream) and i guess it can still maintain some cripsiness. Hope this help.

hi, Sonia, I am from SG. I have a question to the choux part. I did all the steps of choux. but I did not have time to let it cool down(must this step be fully cooled??) cause I continue the next step of the picture with wooden spoon it doesnt look as good (glossy looked).

I have a very old oven and the bottom of choux become char tar with heater setting of both up and down.

Maggie, don't need to be fully cooled but you have to stir it till no more steam, and maybe you did not beat it well, try to use mixer to beat it instead of wooden spoon (take longer time to incorporate till smooth).I don't know what type of oven you have, i couldn't answer to your problem about brown bottom. The important thing is you need to know your oven. I have a built-in oven with fan, I use the center rack to bake this, so the hot air can be flow evenly from bottom and top.

Hi Sonia! I always wanted to bake choux pastry. Im happy to find ur recipe here. I have a small oven. My question is can i bake the batter in batches? Will the batter melt or cant stay long waiting? Thanks!!